With just under 48 hours to go to the big Glasgow Derby kick-off at Celtic Park, the predictions from pundits and former players are coming in thick and fast.
Already the Celtic fans have seen the likes of Chris Sutton give his prediction and Barry Ferguson talking earlier about worrying about James Forrest.
With Celtic getting back to full strength and Rangers having some injury issues to worry about, there is a slight air of confidence from the Hoops fans and Andy Halliday seems to know why.
Celtic fans don’t ‘fear’ three Rangers players
Andy Halliday was running the rule over Rangers’ chances at Celtic Park on Saturday when he gave a very honest assessment of how he thinks the Celtic fans feel about three of the Ibrox club’s best players.
Halliday said [Open Goal], “If it’s Fabio Silva, Dujon Sterling and Cyriel Dessers, I don’t think Celtic fans are saying, ‘I really fear him today.’
“Don’t get me wrong, they could have a brilliant game but there’s none of that, they could win them a game of football today.
“And I do think that Celtic, at the moment, are just a better team and you’ve got to fancy them to win.”
Now, I am the last one to get over-confident about any derby match and I also don’t buy into the tired old cliche that form goes out the window when that is clearly not the case.
Celtic’s Glasgow Derby form
Celtic have been the most dominant team in the country for a number of years now and that is reflected in how many of these games we have won.
Since season 2021/22, Celtic have won eight out of all 14 meetings against Rangers. Included in that are three draws and Rangers three wins. [Transfermarkt]
Form does not go out the window. The form team generally comes out on top and since Celtic drew with Rangers at Ibrox, Rodgers has won every SPFL fixture since.
Rangers, on the other hand, lost against Ross County, drew with Dundee and had it not been for VAR, would have most likely struggled against Kilmarnock.
And, as I said, I’m not being over-confident but Celtic with a full-strength squad to choose from should have enough to ensure the three points remain at Parkhead come full-time on Saturday.